The Blade and the MW

A reader writes:

I don't know what you're talking about when you say the Blade folks are unprofessional. I've had nothing but good experiences with them. They break good news, and give me the inside scoop, which is more than I can say about MW.

This seems to be more of a comment on what I didn't say rather than what I did. I agree the Blade provides good information. It's usually fairly comprehensive and occasionally hard-hitting. But I stand by my comments that the MW does a better job of covering the DC LGBT Community. They seem more familiar and more approachable then the folks at WashBlade. As someone who has worked here in public relations, I feel it's easier to pick up the phone and pitch a reporter at the Washington Post than it is to pitch something to the Blade. And, in the last eight years of working in the community here, the Blade has simply often gotten things wrong. In fact, in this weekend's edition, there are two glaring inaccuracies in a story about an event I happened to have been at.

I'm sure the staff there is overworked and stretched too thin. But too often their approach has been to hold the community at arms length. That's going to create gaps in their coverage, and has.

The new publisher was quoted as saying he wants to foster ties to the community. Let's hope that happens.